“Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages” (Terry Pratchett) The flood of lockdown lay-offs and salary reductions has left many tenants struggling to find rent money, and their landlords wondering how to cover their bond repayments and other expenses. Whether you are a landlord or a tenant
Landlords and Tenants: Alert Level 1 and the New Eviction Rules Read More »
The sharp upsurge in businesses operating remotely as a result of the pandemic lockdowns means a lot more people working from home – most presumably in low-profile home offices, but inevitably some in the form of full-on business activities from home. What effect is that having on the property market? Work-from-home and what’s hot in
“… in certain circumstances the principal may be liable to pay commission to both agents where it is impossible to distinguish between the efforts of one agent and another in terms of causality or degrees of causation.” (Extract from judgment below) With many property sellers allowing multiple estate agencies to market their properties in their
“O Wonder! …O Brave New World” (Shakespeare) Regrettably the pandemic still shows no sign of going away any time soon, and the social distancing it has brought to our “new normal” leaves companies with a dilemma. How can you comply – safely and lawfully – with the Companies Act’s stringent requirements for the holding of
Directors, Trustees: Can You Hold Your AGMs and General Meetings on Zoom? Read More »
“The purpose of the legislature in enacting s 34(1) is to protect creditors by preventing traders who are in financial difficulty from disposing of their business assets to third parties who are not liable for the debts of the business, without due advertisement to all the creditors of the business.” (Extract from judgement below) With
Buying a Business? Make Sure the Seller Publishes Notice of the Sale Read More »
“It is only where the enforcement of a contractual term would be so unfair, unreasonable or unjust so as to be contrary to public policy that a court may refuse to enforce it” (extract from first judgment below) Leases often give tenants an option to extend or renew at the end of the current term,
Options to Renew Leases – Risks for Landlords and Tenants Read More »
“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate” (Andrew Carnegie, billionaire industrialist) Dollar billionaire Andrew Carnegie said it a century ago, and it
Property: Green Shoots, Agent’s Commission and Fidelity Fund Certificates Read More »
“…every landowner has a right to the lateral support and where subsidence or other destabilisation occurs, as a result of excavations on an adjacent property, the owner of the adjacent property will be liable in an action for damages irrespective of whether she was negligent or not.” (Extract from judgment below) It’s every homeowner’s nightmare
Property Subsidence: New Law, Strict Liability and Ubuntu Read More »
“To sign a document means to authenticate that which stands for or is intended to represent the name of the person who is to authenticate” (quoted in the case below) We all know that verbal agreements, although fully binding for most types of transaction, are a recipe for uncertainty and dispute. It’s not just a
Electronic Signatures in Property and Other Transactions Read More »
“You can be a good neighbour only if you have good neighbours” (Howard E. Koch) It looks as if we will still be under “restricted movement” orders for a while – even when we finally get down to Alert Level 2 and who knows when that will be. Tensions between neighbours are no doubt at
Lockdown! Nuisance Neighbours and How to Handle Them Read More »
